dear sister, your brother
by psychopathicdorito
Summary: [Songfic] Apollo's always known how annoying Artemis thinks he is - especially when the goddess actually tells him. He knows it's a joke, but as he relives his memories with her, he starts to wonder: is he really more than nothing but a setback for Artemis? Does his sister even care that he's a mortal...again? (NOT INCEST)
**A/N: So, the first book in TOA (that's Trials of Apollo, Rick's brand new series!) is coming out in a few months (rumor has it that it's coming out on my actual birthday, so apparently Rick's going to be giving me my husband for my birthday - thanks, Rick!) and this is sort of me hoping that we get to see the right amount of Artemis we need.**

 **You should listen to the song before/while reading this (Dear Sister, Your Brother by Talain Rayne), but you don't necessarily have to.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: The rights of the song used go to Talain Rayne and the _personalities_ of Apollo and Artemis in this fic belong to Rick Riordan (I guess? There's also some mention of scenes from The Titan's Curse, and those are definitely his). None of them belong to me.**

* * *

 _ **Come back old lights to childish fights**_

 _ **Do you remember all the good times?**_

"Oh, gods, Apollo, that was your worst one yet!" Artemis complained, looking up from where she was carving her name into the new bow she had gotten.

Apollo looked up from his parchment, looking properly insulted. "Hey! I tried my best!"

"Next time, when you try your best, don't try to lower the IQ of everyone on Delos by merely talking."

Apollo frowned. In the back of his head, a voice was telling him that Artemis had stolen that line somewhere, but a larger, more interesting voice, was screaming, _Get her bow!_

Which was exactly what an impulsive Apollo did.

"Give it back, Apollo! You immature imbecile, you're gonnna break-"

Apollo wondered if Artemis had the powers of telepathy too, because one moment he was chuckling as she chased him all over their front yard, and the next thing he knew, he was lying on the sand with a bow broken in half and his sister looking up at him with hateful and tear-filled eyes.

Later that night, Apollo crept into their shared room when she had fallen fast asleep, positioned himself at the foot of her bed, and, with the new bow he had somehow acquired tucked safely into his arms, waited for sunrise to come so he could surprise her with the new bow and an apology.

He hadn't, however, thought about the fact that maybe he would fall asleep before that happened, so when he woke up to a bright day and the bow still in his hands, he cursed silently, knowing Artemis was probably awake, and –

Wait.

Slowly, Apollo looked down to his right and grinned when he saw Artemis smiling as she slept snuggled up next to her brother.

"Guess my apology's accepted." he whispered, moving her closer to get her more comfortable and falling back asleep.

 _ **Oh, when we were young,**_

 _ **And when we made fun,**_

 _ **Of all those lovers making old rhymes**_

"Apparently, someone's become a bachelor for life." Artemis said nonchalantly, sitting next to where her brother was positioned on the edge of a cliff.

Apollo shrugged. "Not that I mean I'm swearing off the ladies. Sorry, lil sis, that's gonna take a miracle."

"Exactly which is why I came here. I was wondering why you did so in the first place." Artemis confessed.

"I was thinking."

"That's dangerous." Artemis snickered

Once again, Apollo had that nagging feeling that Artemis had stolen that same line from somewhere, but she was asking a question, so he decided answering it would be the sane option. "Anyway, I did it so that people wouldn't expect me to live up to my promises. If I'm going to go round lying to girls, might as well have someone other than you become my warning sign. Sort of a, 'Apollo doesn't really mean he'll love you for all eternity. He just does things like that and forgets later on.'"

"Won't that lessen your appeal with females?" Artemis asked.

"Countless gods have gotten mortals pregnant and left them to more terrible fates, but do they ever stop getting people who want a one-night stand with them? Nope. Which is weird, if you ask me, but hey, I'm not complaining."

"Of course you wouldn't." Artemis sighed. Even without using their mental link, Apollo knew that his sister was fighting off the urge to punch him in the face. "It's an improvement in your case, I guess. At least you won't be breaking the heart of an innocent female you swore your loyalty to by going off with affairs with other women."

"Exactly!"

"But you'll still be breaking the hearts of other women who thought they would have something more than a one-night stand with you." Artemis snapped.

Apollo shrugged. "I'd be telling them my identity beforehand so they knew what they were getting into, and to be fair I think that's enough of a warning sign with my reputation."

Artemis sent her brother a bitter look. The sun god sighed, slinging an arm over her shoulder and squeezing it tight. "Look, sis, the ones intelligent enough to avoid and reject me will come running to you. They'll be under your protection. At least you'll be able to zap me for all eternity if I come running after them then."

"That's somehow amusing." Artemis chuckled.

Apollo grinned. "You're inflicting pain onto people who are jerks to women. Of course it's amusing."

 _ **As I sail out into the sea,**_

 _ **And these rocks burning beneath me,**_

 _ **Oh**_

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, Apollo.

"Aren't you going to back out?"

"No, Apollo."

"You know, there's no shame in quitting."

Artemis groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Apollo, we have been over this countless times. I. Am. Going. Hunting. _Alone._ "

"Yeah, but couldn't you, I dunno, bring along your Huntresses?"

"I could, but I don't need to." Artemis pointed out.

"Look, I don't get the point!" Apollo exclaimed. "The Huntresses are women, they won't be bothering you, and you're like a sort of weird family! You don't need to hunt alone!"

"Have you taken into consideration that I want to hunt alone?" Artemis snapped back.

"Why on Earth would you want to do that?"

"And why not? Father told me to capture this beast, I want to prove myself and I can do it alone."

"Where you could get captured by who-knows-what? Not under my watch!"

By this time, the twins were yelling at each other, and unbeknownst to them, an audience of immortal beings had gathered to gossip about yet another one of Artemis and Apollo's amusing bickers.

What they didn't know was that this wasn't going to be any normal (or as normal as they could get) sibling fight.

Something in Artemis snapped as she glared coldly up at her brother. "Why is it so hard for you to understand that I don't need your protection and that I'm capable of handling myself?! Gods, you are so _frustrating!"_

Apollo felt like the world around him had stopped. Artemis' words kept repeating in his head.

"Y-you're right." Apollo muttered.

"What?"

"You're Artemis, of course you can hunt alone." Apollo said, giving Artemis a small smile. "It's nothing you can't handle – hey, you've always been the better archer."

An audible gasp could be heard throughout the room, Artemis' own included.

Apollo prided himself on the fact that he was the better one at archery. He was the god of it, after all.

But there he was, confessing that Artemis was better than him, in public.

Apollo nudged her gently. "Well? What are you waiting for? Monster's not gonna hunt itself, unless you want me to hunt it down."

Apollo watched as Artemis, in her pre-teen form, grinned hugely and bounded out of Olympus, ready to hunt the ferocious beast on her own.

She was going to be okay.

...Right?

 _ **Please say everything is okay**_

 _ **Tell me we can go play**_

 _ **Like we did when we were younger**_

 _ **Oh, oh we'll sing and shout**_

 _ **Lying on the ground**_

 _ **Staring up at worlds beyond our own**_

"Hello, ladies!" Apollo purred, giving the Huntresses his signature smile that he knew made ladies' knees go weak.

"Apollo. Just on time to annoy me again." Artemis sighed from where she had been teaching some of the less educated girls how to fire their arrow precisely. She gestured to Thalia, who nodded and took over the lessons as Artemis walked over to where Apollo was waiting. "What do you want?"

"You forgot?" Apollo echoed, looking genuinely hurt. Artemis had seen enough of his acting skills to see past all that, and instead rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. "It's July 7! The seventh month of the seventh day?"

"Yes, I know."

"Um, Artemis. Seven. Something important is happening today!"

"Apollo, unless you're referring to our hunt, which I doubt –"

"Wait, what?" Apollo asked, putting up a hand to stop Artemis talking. "You arranged a hunt?"

"On our birthday, yes."

"You didn't forget!"

"Of course not!" Artemis scoffed. "Exactly why I thought it was a perfect opportunity to break in some of my newest recruits."

"Oh." Apollo said, visibly slouching. "I just thought –"

"Apollo, we're immortal." Artemis slowly explained to her brother, as if he wouldn't understand. "Birthdays are mortal celebrations for a reason – they have to celebrate the fact they've gone through another year."

It was silent for a moment, but then Apollo smiled, putting his shades back on as he said, "Well, I better get going then. Inform Hermes maybe I am up for that bar he was talking about. See ya, Arty."

"Stop calling me that."

"Good luck with that." Apollo snickered, before driving off into the sunset.

The sun god had seen the look on the Huntresses faces as he left. They had seen what Artemis didn't, which was a feat in itself, but whatever.

They wouldn't have the guts to tell Artemis, anyway.

 _ **And would you save the stinging bee**_

 _ **If it fell into the ocean?**_

"Apollo!" Artemis exclaimed, sounding scandalized as her brother immediately embraced her as soon as he saw her.

"No, no, shut up for once Artemis. Let this moment live." Apollo mumbled from where his face was buried in her hair.

"Apollo, really, let go. Father needs me to report what I've seen." Artemis sighed.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Apollo protested. "You've just returned and he's already bombarding you with shit he's too lazy to do himself?!"

"Apollo!"

"I mean it!" the younger sibling continued. "I know he's our father, but when he does shit like this, he's making me lose the tiny respect I have from him! Why can't he get someone else who _isn't_ exhausted and traumatized to report to him?"

"Because the only other people there were the half-bloods, and they're exhausted enough as it is." Artemis tiredly tried to explain to him. "Apollo, it's fine, I'm fine, okay?"

"No, you're not fine. Artemis, nothing about what you went through is fine." Apollo growled.

"Well, there's nothing you can do about it now, so might as well not get yourself into trouble so I'll have less to worry about."

Apollo took one step backwards, as if Artemis' words had physically shoved him and glared him in the face. Even as Artemis started to physically show that she had regretted what she said, Apollo still felt like she had shot an arrow through his heart and that it was bleeding eternally.

If she did, Apollo was certain that what he was feeling as of the moment would still hurt more.

"Apollo, I-"

"Artemis! There you are, Father has been looking all over for you, come on!" Athena exclaimed, dragging her sister by the arm. Artemis turned to protest, then turned back to tell Apollo she would talk to him later, but when she looked back the sun god was gone.

And he never showed himself until she forgot about trying to talk to him.

 _ **Yes, I would,**_

 _ **I'd pull it out,**_

 _ **Like a brother to a sister**_

"Do something!" Artemis sobbed, hugging the tiny fawn close to her arms.

Apollo gulped. Sure, he was the god of healing, but he had just spent what, a month as a god? He and Artemis might have looked as old as some of the gods, but there was so much he didn't know yet.

Healing included.

"I-I-" Apollo stuttered. The fawn made a sound like a whimper, and Apollo was faintly sure that Artemis made the same sound.

The way the fawn was looking at him...it reminded Apollo awfully a lot of Artemis when she had tripped and was trying so hard not to show him she was hurt.

He _had_ to do something.

"I'll take some time, but I promise she'll be okay." Apollo finished, extending his arms so that Artemis could transfer the fawn into his arms. Once she did so, he rose to find a place to heal her, but Artemis stopped him before he could so much as take a step.

"Promise you'll heal her?"

He wanted to say he wasn't sure. But this was Artemis he was talking about. She was his sister. He had a duty, as brothers do to sisters, to promise her all she wanted in the world.

He nodded. "I promise."

Many a sleepless night were spent on figuring out how to take the fawn out of its' agony without killing it, but finally, a drained Apollo presented the healthy fawn to his sister.

"You're the best brother ever!" Artemis giggled, giving Apollo a big hug.

The young god grinned. Yep, he could risk a bit of his health if his sister was going to continue praising him like that.

He just needed to show her he was worth all the flaws he came with.

 _ **I feel the sting and hear you shout**_

 _ **As we find another mystery**_

"She's being unfair."

"She hates us, what did you expect?" Artemis sighed. "Hera is Father's legal wife. We're considered his illegitimate children – she has a right to accuse us of wanting nothing but Father's powers."

"What's wrong with you?" Apollo asked, turning to face his sister. "Usually you agree with me on this."

"I still do, trust me." Artemis said, placing a hand on Apollo's shoulder to reassure him. "But I'm getting tired of placing effort into Hera when she'll never accept the fact we exist. We're not family – to her, we're constant reminder of how terrible a husband Father is."

"And what, she takes it out on you now that Mom's dead?"

Artemis winced as Apollo reminded her once again of their mother's death. Truth be told, Hera had been even meaner to the twins once word of Leto's death had reached her, and Apollo had wanted to make a plan of revenge. Artemis, however, apparently didn't feel the same, even if Hera had noticeably been meaner to her than Apollo.

"Apollo, think about this rationally for once." Artemis looked up sadly at her brother. "Do you think Mother would want us doing this?"

"She was too humble for that, it's true." Apollo agreed. "But that doesn't mean she deserves all the things Hera accuses her of just because she wasn't attractive enough for Dad's tastes."

"Careful, brother." Artemis warned. Apollo had a habit for publicly announcing his hatred for other Olympians, and it wasn't a good thing.

"I'll be careful with how I treat her when she picks her own words." Apollo growled.

"Apollo, the way you're treating this just makes it look like as if Mother didn't raise us properly."

The anger in Apollo's eyes faded. "W-what?"

"Cursing our stepmother, trying to exact revenge on her: it doesn't exactly make us look like children who had a good influence in their childhood. I don't want our own mother's image to be soiled after her death." Artemis looked away, as if what she had said pained her.

Apollo's head was swimming with thoughts. It was the first time of many that Artemis would unconsciously hurt her brother with her harsh words, and Apollo didn't know what to do.

Had his sister really just accused him of making his mother look bad?

"Fine. I'm going out." he mumbled, not giving Artemis a chance to reply.

Apollo didn't come back until weeks later, but when he did, he apologized to Artemis, as if he had done something and it was, once again, his fault.

 _ **Please say everything is okay**_

 _ **Tell me we can go play**_

 _ **Like we did when we were younger**_

 _ **Oh, oh we'll sing and shout**_

 _ **Lying on the ground**_

 _ **Staring up at worlds beyond our own**_

"I really don't like looking out at stars." Artemis confessed as she stared up at the stars from Apollo's balcony.

The latter arched an eyebrow up at her. "What? Why not? They're technically yours, I mean I'd stare at the sun if I could."

"Of course you would." Artemis chuckled softly. Then she let out a disappointed sigh as she rested her head against her hands. "It's just...too many of these constellations bring back old memories. Terrible memories."

Apollo winced. Artemis was right. There was Orion, and then the scorpion, and then Zoe –

"You make them look good, though."

"Huh?"

"I mean look. Zoe – she was one of the best, and you gave her more praise than she could ever hope to have by immortalizing her in the stars. Your domain, sis. She can be with you in spirit, all the time she wants."

"And Orion?" Apollo continued. "Touchy subject, I know. But hey! You made him one of the most unforgettable heroes in Greek History. Somewhere out there, there's this family – or maybe just some teacher and his class, I dunno – pointing up at the sky, and they're saying, 'Look, that's Orion! You know his story? You don't? Well, buckle up, kiddo, because I'm telling it to you right here, right now. It's an exclusive.' No one will ever forget Orion as long as that beautiful constellation's up there to remind them."

"Since when were you good with words?" Artemis teased.

Apollo put a hand over his heart, as if he was injured. "Artemis, my sister! I am the god of poetry, of course I am good with words! Why, I shall prove it..."

"Oh, gods."

"...with a haiku!"

 _ **Please say you'll sing when I shout**_

' _ **Cause you know I'm gonna make it**_

"Please, Artemis? Just this one time?"

"Apollo, for the love of Olympus, no."

Apollo pouted, the microphone going limp in his hand. "Aw, come on! Don't be a spoilsport, everyone wants to see how awesome you are at singing!"

"I'm not the goddess of music." Artemis shot back.

"You're the god of music's sister, though!" Apollo pleaded. "That's gotta ensure that you've got at least a bit of a singing voice in there!"

"Can Father control the waters like Uncle Poseidon can?"

"Well, no-"

"Can you deliver a thousand letters all in a day?"

"I can't, but –"

"You think Aphrodite would be able to plan out war strategies?"

"Look, Arty, just –"

"I rest my case, Apollo." Artemis walked out, leaving Apollo open-mouthed and with twenty drachmas less now that Artemis had bailed on him.

Maybe he didn't know his sister enough to bet her trusting him.

 _ **And you'll sing, and I'll shout**_

' _ **Cause you know we're gonna make it**_

"Hey, are you nervous?" Apollo whispered.

"Our first meeting as Olympians. Of course I'm nervous." Artemis whispered back.

"It's just a bunch of our half-siblings, aunts, uncles, father, and crazed stepmother. How hard can it be to talk to them?" Apollo shrugged.

"It's hard when you're paranoid about making a good impression."

"What?" Apollo snickered. "You don't need to worry about that!"

"Yes, well, I want people to respect me, not to make fun of me and call me the clown." Artemis snapped. She did a lot of those when Apollo was being more idiotic than usual, but the latter didn't see what he had done wrong.

"Ugh, never mind. You'll never understand." Artemis sighed, walking into the room and not glancing back to see if Apollo had followed.

The younger twin followed with an air of remorse.

All he had wanted to say was that he didn't think Artemis needed to be nervous because he thought she was awesome and cool and didn't need to worry about first impressions because no matter what she did, she was naturally the best.

It was he who needed to act proper to gain the respect of other Olympians, because Artemis was right, he was a clown.

Maybe she understood him and he never understood her.

 _ **And I'll sing when you'll shout**_

' _ **Cause you'll know you're gonna make it**_

"Victorious once again! That's my little sis!" Apollo screamed, tackling Artemis straight to the ground in his frenzy of pride for her.

He froze, realizing that he had just tackled her in front of millions of her adoring fans, called her little sis, and probably humiliated her in front of her Huntresses. He quickly tried to get up, but was stopped by Artemis' laughter.

"Gods, Apollo. You're like my dad!" she giggled, apparently not containing herself.

Apollo's grin grew large. "Who needs fathers when you've got amazing big brothers like me?"

"Yep, big in the physical sense!" Artemis continued to snicker.

The grin on Apollo's face could have stretched and stretched and nothing would be able to stop it. "Just because you decide to look like a pre-teen doesn't mean I can't tackle you to the ground!"

He did precisely that, laughing along with her as she tried to outrun his grasp. The crowd continued to watch them happily, ignoring the fact Apollo had said Artemis only decided to look like a pre-teen and despite the fact the moon goddess had called him Apollo when they knew him by another name (hey, not everyone in the mortal world deserved to know if a certain person was a god in human form).

The Mist was amazing that way.

And by that way, in the way that it would let siblings who had always been fighting finally get a sense of peace and normality in their chaotic life.

Not that it could make it last for long.

 _ **Please say everything is okay**_

 _ **Tell me we can go play**_

 _ **Like we did when we were younger**_

He had punished him to become a mortal. Again.

It was the same punishment again.

Either Zeus was getting really unoriginal, or he really didn't care that much about Apollo to spice up his punishment. Or make him mortal. You know, again.

The now-mortal Apollo sighed, looking around.

He huffed. It couldn't have been less convenient than this.

He had dropped him in a city. A city, where he knew it would take forever for him to find Artemis.

She was always out in the forest, only recruiting in cities conveniently close to wildlife.

Apollo climbed onto the top of a Dumpster, slumping when he saw that there was nothing but miles and miles of skyscrapers as far as the eye could see.

Artemis wouldn't come here.

Apollo sighed, bowing his head as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Would she even bother to look for him even if he had been nothing but a nuisance?

 _ **Oh, oh we'll sing and shout**_

 _ **Lying on the ground**_

 _ **Staring up at worlds beyond our own**_

"...and that, sweetheart, is how your aunt and I invented camping." Apollo finished, smiling as he watched his daughter's smile appear on her face.

"Auntie Artemis is so cool!" she giggled.

"You got that right, sunshine." Apollo agreed.

"Why doesn't she ever come visit us, Dad?" one of his older children asked.

Apollo looked down at him. "She...she's busy, sport. She's got Huntresses she's got to take care of, monsters she's got to save the world from." he told them.

"Wow, she's amazing." one of his daughters spoke up.

"Yep, of course she is." Apollo agreed again, but he couldn't help but think about what his son had said.

He had been at Camp Half-Blood long enough. Where was Artemis? Why didn't she come visit when all the gods knew that Apollo was taking refuge with the demigods?

Was he really that worthless to her?

 _ **Please say everything is okay**_

 _ **Tell me we can go play**_

 _ **Like we did when we were younger**_

Will knew something was up with his father when he had turned down the offer to show off his archery skills. Rule 1: Apollo never backs down from a challenge.

"Dad? The other kids are still waiting, are you sure you don't want to show them, at least a tiny bit?" Will tried one more time.

Apollo smiled. He knew the look on Will's face – the concern he was trying to hide. "Don't worry about me, Will, I'm fine. I'm just a bit tired. Look after your siblings, okay? Make sure they don't get hurt."

Will nodded, but Apollo knew he didn't need to say that. Will would have looked after his siblings all the same. He was a kind boy, and he had Apollo's traits. He was overprotective, in fact, sometimes it would reach the point where his younger siblings would feel restrained by him. At the end of the day, though, they realized he was doing it because he loved them and that he just wanted them safe.

"What did I do wrong, Arty?" Apollo sighed, head in his hands. "What could I have done to show you I only wanted you to be safe?"

"You did everything right, Apollo. I...I was just stupid enough to care only about myself."

 _ **Oh, oh we'll sing and shout**_

 _ **Lying on the ground**_

 _ **Staring up at worlds beyond our own**_

"Maybe it's me who didn't show you the love you should have gotten." Artemis finished, smiling at the look of wonder on Apollo's face.

"Well, you took forever." Apollo complained, but the way his voice was cracking gave him away. "I waited for you! I thought –"

The tears flowed down Apollo's cheeks as he realized that Artemis hadn't left him alone. The young goddess ran to him, hugging him close (she had conveniently appeared as old as Apollo appeared to be), as if she was afraid to let go. "They wouldn't tell me where you'd gone." she confessed after letting go. "Father was being a jerk, Hera was being a whiny bitch, and the rest weren't allowed to tell me. It took forever for me to get the Huntresses to agree to stay on Olympus for safety, and then I had to let Chiron tell me which mortal you were because holy _Zeus_ you and your kids all look the same."

"They didn't tell you Dad turned me into a mortal?"

"I thought he was going to be a bit more original." Artemis said.

"Yeah, me too." Apollo groaned. "But he isn't as cool as us, huh? Hey, is that my bow?"

Artemis blushed, as if the discovery was something that humiliated her. "I – when I learned you had left your bow, I thought you were in real danger, so I brought it along. It – it reminded me of you, when you broke my bow and then had to make a new one because you thought I wasn't going to forgive you."

"And then all sorts of memories came back." Artemis continued. "And I thought of all these things I was going to tell you, but –"

"Go on."

"Huh?"

"Those things." Apollo motioned with his hand. "I'm pretty sure I can be attentive enough to listen to how my sister was feeling."

"I thought...about how you first became a bachelor. How I accused you of being a jerk and you agreed, even giving me permission to hurt you because you know it would make me somehow feel amused, even if I didn't realize you were separating the people I needed in my Hunt after multiple were lost trying to flirt with you because I didn't notice they only wanted immortality to get attention from the gods.

"And then I remembered the time you were trying to stop me from hunting by myself for the first time, and I thought you were just being annoying – but you just wanted me safe, because you'd just gotten hurt the week before hunting alone, and I hadn't noticed before because I was too caught up in myself.

"Then our birthday last year, where I refused to come with you because it was for mortals. But I had forgotten about our blissful past birthdays, which we would spend on Delos, and I would feel so happy because everything was perfect and it felt like Mother wasn't dead, and life was back to normal.

"You always grew angry for reasons I didn't know – like the time Father needed me to report about Atlas, but I was too physically tired to give it properly. I thought you were being bipolar again, but you just wanted me to get the rest I needed, and I know the guilt in your eyes was my fault.

"That time I found an injured fawn and you didn't even know how to use your powers properly, but I had been so selfish and had forced you to heal her – I didn't notice how exhausted you were back then because I didn't tell you the injured fawn was my fault, I had shot her accidentally, and you were paying for my mistakes.

"You even tried to protect me from Hera's harsh words, but I was so tired of trying that I didn't realize that, and had the guts to accuse you of making Mother look bad. If anything, I had made her look bad by not realizing how selfless you were then – Hera was done with you, but just because she had chosen to target me, you were ready to fight her head-on.

"You even did the impossible – you made it possible for me to look at the stars with new hope. That because of them, children out there were learning and becoming better people from the mistakes of those tragedies. All that I threw away because you ended it with a terrible haiku.

"And that time you tried to make me sing? I didn't take into account you had bet – Hermes told me – an unnecessarily large amount of money because you believed you would win, not because you were a god, but because you trusted me. And I wasted that trust.

"You trusted in me enough to know I would make a good first impression with the Council when we first had our meeting with them, but I chose that moment to tell you that you wouldn't understand because you didn't take anything seriously – except that you were scared of messing up for my sake.

"You were my number one fan at the race I had two months ago, and even if my Huntresses were too scared to congratulate me, you tackled me to the ground. But..."

Artemis looked up, teary eyed as she continued. "I noticed how you froze for a minute, because you were scared you had done something wrong. At first, I didn't care much, but..."

"When they first told me Father was punishing you, I didn't care at all." The waver in Artemis' voice bothered Apollo, but she was talking, and he wasn't going to stop her. He didn't think he could. "I thought that you deserved it, that maybe then you would figure out how annoying you were. But I was the one who had to figure something out."

"I stumbled upon you one day."

Apollo's eyes widened at the confession. Wouldn't he have sensed her? Then again, he was a mortal now, so...

"Even if you were a mortal, I could still sense your thoughts." Artemis said. "And when I saw you on top of that Dumpster, I wanted to come up to you and reprimand you, but once I heard your thoughts..."

Apollo gulped. He remembered those stupid, paranoid, thoughts. "Arty, look, I-"

"No." Artemis interrupted. "It's time you stopped apologizing for doing nothing wrong, and time I started acknowledging my mistakes. I'm not the sibling you deserve, you deserve someone who shows you how much they appreciate the effort you go into trying to overcome your flaws for your sister, you deserve someone who doesn't assume the worst when it comes to you, you don't deserve me."

"No, no, no, shut up, sis." Apollo growled, gripping Artemis by the shoulder. "I think you know me enough to know that _no one_ can talk shit about my sister. And that includes my own sister. You cannot talk shit about you. I will not have that while I'm around."

"Apollo, I-"

"Do you want me to hate you?" Apollo asked incredulously. "Because that's the one thing I can't do, Arty. Get mad at you. Or blame you. Or think you don't deserve the best. I'm not the best, so I think I'm not the brother you need or deserve. But if you think I'm the best – which I highly doubt – I'm not going to stop you because I think differently. A sibling as amazing as you deserves all she wants, and – hey!"

Artemis was crying happily as she tackled Apollo, making him fall backwards into the sand. "Uh, Artemis, my kids can see us." Apollo nervously reminded her. "Don't want them to think we're weird."

"We're Olympians. Our whole family is weird." Artemis waved off. "And speaking of my nieces and nephews..."

Apollo groaned. "No, Arty..."

"Who wants to hear a story about how your father broke Gramma Leto's favourite vase?"

Later that night, once the kids were fast asleep (and Apollo had finally gotten them to stop laughing at him), Artemis and Apollo sat on the branch of one of the trees, bows in hand.

"I can't directly help you." Artemis murmured, as if afraid Zeus would hear them. "But what I can do is help discretely. I'll make sure it'll help you and some of my Huntresses simultaneously – that way, it won't look like I'm trying to help you."

"And why would you do this again?"

"Because when you're no longer mortal," Artemis grinned, "I can finally get you to do another hunt with me."

"Oh, just because I'm mortal doesn't mean I still don't have mad skills." Apollo said smugly.

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Most targets hit in 5 minutes wins. Go!" Artemis exclaimed enthusiastically, jumping from the tree and landing with precision. She ran off into the forest, where Apollo was certain she had hidden a dozen targets for this exact moment.

He shook his head in amusement. "Yep. Same Artemis as always."

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, so guess when I made this? A night before we had this important test in Literature that I hadn't studied beforehand. What time did I make this? From 10 PM to 2 AM, that's when. All 5k+ of this, and I knew I couldn't let this go to waste (or, I didn't want to).**

 **I had my sister read this and she _cried,_ so I hope you all enjoyed it! **

**I only fear that the twins might have been too OOC towards the end (especially Artemis).**

 **If you understood the two references at the start of the fic, good for you! If you didn't...well, sorry, I'm not telling. *grin***

 **Leave a review!**

 **-pscyhopathicdorito**


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